NSA leaker prodded by Russian lawmaker

Los Angeles Times

Published 8:30 pm, Sunday, July 7, 2013

An influential Russian lawmaker on Sunday advised fugitive leaker Edward Snowden to take up Venezuela's offer of asylum, deeming it his "last chance" and cautioning that the discloser of U.S. security secrets can't live at Moscow's airport forever.

It was a clear sign from the Kremlin that it has tired of the international standoff over Snowden, the 30-year-old former National Security Agency contractor who disclosed classified information about widespread U.S. surveillance of worldwide telephone and Internet contacts.

"Venezuela is waiting for an answer from Snowden," Alexei Pushkov, head of the Russian parliament's international affairs committee, said on Twitter. "This, perhaps, is his last chance to receive political asylum."

In a separate tweet, Pushkov noted that Snowden "shouldn't live in Sheremetyevo," Moscow's main international airport where he has been in a transit area for two weeks.

Snowden arrived in Moscow on a flight from Hong Kong on June 23. But his U.S. passport had been revoked after Justice Department officials brought espionage charges against him and sought his extradition. That has prevented him from proceeding through passport control and entering Russian territory. The airport corridors and holding areas between the arrival gates and the immigration booths staffed by border guards comprise a diplomatic no-man's land from which an undocumented person can neither enter nor depart.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced Friday that his country was offering "humanitarian asylum" to Snowden so that he can live without "persecution."

The Associated Press reported Sunday that Cuban President Raul Castro expressed support for countries willing to take in Snowden, but he made no reference to whether Cuba itself would offer him safe passage.